Chapter 89 : The Mercenary Bureau's First Request (3)
Chapter 89: The Mercenary Bureau's First Request (3)
“Is this bastard seriously playing with us?”
Miles, having grasped the situation, burst into a rage and struck the back of the tax collector's head.
“Hey. You. Does that look like 200 people to your eyes? Huh?”
Small differences often led to big consequences. Furthermore, if the scale differed by more than twofold, the outcome of the battle couldn't be guaranteed. Of course, this didn't mean the mercenaries Miles trained would lose to a mere pack of bandits.
If that happened, they'd have to strip away the title of mercenary.
“……?!”
At that moment, the bushes rustled.
Shatien quickly made a hand signal.
'Get down!'
Miles and the tax collector hurriedly took cover in the grass. A moment later, bandits began to walk out from the direction of the noise. A bandit stopped nearby, scratched his head, and scanned the surroundings. But no matter how hard he looked, he saw nothing.
“Well, that's strange. I definitely saw something here.”
“Hey. Didn't I tell you to stop drinking? What a pain this is in broad daylight!”
“Who was the one drinking it by the sackful. Now you're complaining!”
Once the bandits had completely passed, an irritated Miles struck the back of the tax collector's head again.
-Thump!
When the tax collector lifted his head in grievance, he was met with a gaze filled with murderous intent.
If looks could kill, the tax collector would've died at least twice already.
'D-Dammit.'
The tax collector felt his heart drop. If he gave a wrong explanation here, his neck would likely be severed by that hot-blooded mercenary's halberd.
Shatien looked at the tax collector and asked again.
“What's going on, tax collector? The numbers are higher and the situation is completely different from what you said.”
“A-About that.”
When the tax collector hesitated, Miles threatened him again.
“You'd better speak straight. Got it?”
“I-I-I-I! I really don't know. I'm sorry. Some change must've happened in between. I mean it!”
The tax collector was so terrified he almost wet his pants.
“Fine, but if this happens one more time, your personal situation might change too. Understand?”
“A-Aye. I understand. How could I dare otherwise, milord.”
Shatien's mind suddenly became complicated. Things were flowing differently than he'd imagined. He'd planned to just finish it with a simple frontal breakthrough, but with such high numbers in a fortress, he had to consider something else.
Then Miles asked.
“Shatien. What should we do? Should you and I just sneak in quietly at night and steal the taxes? They're just bandits, so they'll all be sleeping at night, right?”
Since they were the two most stealthy and skilled individuals, the probability of success was certainly high.
But could the two of them really carry a safe?
Furthermore, how would they know where the safe containing the taxes was located?
It was absurd.
“It's impossible. I'll have to do it differently instead.”
“Differently...?”
“Yes, come over here for a moment.”
Shatien began to explain his plan to Miles.
After hearing the details, Miles's eyes widened.
“Ooh!! That's a great idea! As expected of Shatien! Ahahahaha.”
* * *
-Creeeeak. Creeeeak.
A line of carriages screamed as they moved along a winding forest path. It was a perfect area for an ambush with many places to hide.
“Whoa. Let's go carefully! Everything's going to spill out, you brats.”
Miles held the reins and drove the horse. Wearing a thick coat and a plausible wide-brimmed hat, he looked like a merchant through and with through.
The number of mercenaries currently escorting the carriages was about 20. The remaining troops were hidden inside the cargo boxes of the carriages.
From the outside, they couldn't help but look like very appetizing prey.
“Hmm….”
Gripping the reins, Miles carefully scanned the surroundings. He didn't know where an arrow might suddenly fly from. He had to keep his senses sharp to avoid being sent to the next world by a stray arrow. He had to be completely ready to dodge at any time.
'Shouldn't they be out by now? Why are these bastards so cautious.'
It was exhausting to stay tense for so long. Miles grumbled inwardly. Then, at a certain moment.
'Oh! They're here.'
The sounds in the forest vanished, and only silence remained.
The fact that even the birdsong had disappeared meant someone had entered and everyone else had left.
In other words... there were bandits.
-Reach.
Miles quietly gripped the handle of his hidden axe.
From long experience, this was 100 percent.
It was certain those bastards were hiding nearby.
And sure enough.
-Whiz, whiz, whiz!
Arrows that flew suddenly pierced the side of a carriage.
“Who's there!”
“Whoa, whoa!”
-Neigh!
A commotion broke out instantly.
As the startled horses went wild, the mercenaries' formation began to collapse. Seeing that, bandits burst out from the forests on both sides.
“Uhahahaha, you greedy merchant bastards!!”
“Our masters are going to empty your pockets for you!!”
“Come here. Leave everything and go with just your bodies! If you don't resist, I'll specially spare your lives!!”
-Waaaaaaaah!!!
The number couldn't be accurately gauged, but it seemed to exceed 100. They rushed in without giving any room for negotiation.
Normally, if they received such an attack, the mercenaries escorting the caravan would've fled.
Faithful mercenaries who would risk their lives for such pittance were hard to find.
However, this caravan was very unusual.
“Uhahahahat! Yes. You stupid bastards! You fell for it!!! I told you Shatien's words are never wrong. Strike!!”
They were actually welcoming this situation.
Miles pulled out his hidden axe and shouted clearly.
-Clatter.
-Rumble.
As soon as the command was given, the carriage wheels shook as if they were about to collapse. Heavily armed mercenaries burst out from inside like a lightning bolt.
-Waaaaaaaah!
-Kill the bandits!
-Sweep them away!
The bandits who were rushing in widened their eyes at the sudden appearance of the mercenaries.
Something outside their calculations had occurred.
“W-What's this?”
“Shit. Didn't you say there was no such thing?”
“And a trap? Didn't you say the lord of this area has no strength left?”
Including the mercenaries who were already outside, there looked to be about 100 of them.
The level of equipment was also top-notch, to the point where they couldn't dare to compare themselves.
The bandits realized something had gone wrong. But retreating now? It was too late. They had already swarmed out too much. If they got tangled up while trying to flee, it would be an even greater disaster.
An officer leading the bandit pack bit his lip and shouted.
“There are still fewer of them than us!!”
“Kill them! Their weapons! Their armor! They'll be ours.”
“Woaaaah!”
At those words, the bandits began to rush in like moths to a flame with fire in their eyes.
But despite being surrounded, confidence overflowed in the eyes of the mercenaries.
These were mercenaries who had faced the renowned Order of the Black Rain.
There was no way they'd collapse against a charge from bandits who used to be serfs.
-Clang!
Although they couldn't bring out the long pikes because they were hiding, they had halberds.
The unit members formed a square with their halberds all at once.
-Huh?
-Holy shit! Hey! Stop! Stop it!
-Aaaaagh!
-Crunch.
And the heavy iron curtain composed of halberds turned the rushing bandits into literal mush.
-Rip.
-Crack!
-Ack!
Every time a halberd was swung, shields and armor were split wide open.
Some bastards were struck in the head, and their skulls were split open right along with their helmets.
As the first row was turned into mush in an instant, the bandits flinched in shock.
But the bandit officer had no intention of stopping this charge by any means.
-C-Cling to them!
-It's just a strange-looking axe! The gap is huge!
He pointed out the weakness of general axes and said they'd eventually win if they closed the distance, but....
-Thrust!
-Crack! Snap!
That was closer to a vain delusion.
Once the front row's defenseless exposure occurred, it was perfectly defended by the thrusts of the halberdiers in the rear row.
The top of a halberd was equipped with a pointed spear. While it was difficult to maintain a thrusting posture for a long time, it wasn't so hard to thrust occasionally while moving like this.
-Gahhh.
-No, how….!
Thanks to that, the bandits who rushed in were hit very hard. Especially once a gap was defended, what followed was a heavy downward strike from a halberd.
The axe blows of a halberd falling mercilessly at close range were not the kind of attack lightly armed bandits could endure.
'Hmm… still, the situation isn't great huh?'
While commanding the battlefield, Miles felt that the war situation was not easy.
Unlike the bandits he usually saw, the northern bandits were desperate and had strong persistence in combat. Indeed, they were men of a region that had suffered endless invasions from northern raiders for many years.
Of course, the problem was that they happened to be his enemies.
'I suppose I'll have to step in.'
Miles gripped his axe while recalling Shatien's actions over the past days.
He instinctively realized that something was needed to change the atmosphere completely.
And that target was.
-Charge! Don't stop! More! Drive them harder!
It was the bandit officer who was screaming and giving directions.
“You! Die!”
Seeing a brief opening, Miles immediately dashed out of the front line and rushed toward the bandit officer.
“?!?”
The bandits couldn't respond in time to the sudden charge.
-Whirrrr.
-Crack. Crack. Crunch!
Miles's axe swung around like a windmill, grinding through the bandits in front of him.
“W-What kind of madman is this!”
The bandit officer was terrified as Miles approached right before his eyes in an instant.
What kind of reckless guy was this.
And that was his last thought in this world.
-Crunch!
“Ggh.”
After exchanging a few blows for a short moment, Miles's axe split the bandit officer's skull wide open.
Of course, it wasn't as if Miles suffered no damage.
“Goddammit!”
The bastard had plunged a sword into Miles's chest before dying.
Fortunately, it hit the iron plate added between the chain mail and didn't pierce through, but the impact was conveyed to Miles in its entirety.
“Commander Miles! Are you alright!”
“Ugh. I'm fine. I'm fine! Cut off that guy's head quickly and put it on a spear!”
“Understood!”
At Miles's direction, a unit member hurriedly cut off the bandit officer's head and stuck it on a spear.
As they shouted at the top of their lungs that their leader was dead and told them to surrender, the momentum of the bandits began to wane.
They were people in a dead end with nothing to lose and nowhere to retreat, but their own lives were still important to them.
-Huh?
-The leader is dead.
-Run! Hey. Run quickly!! Dammit.
In the end, as if the intense momentum from earlier had vanished somewhere, the bandits began to scatter in an instant like grains of sand.
The rough battle had ended.
But Miles couldn't just leave them be.
“Pursue them! They mustn't join the main force!!”
“Yes! Centurion Miles.”
Now the important thing was the main force where Shatien was. Things had to go well there for this to be finished. Miles thought that if these bastards resisted so stubbornly, even Shatien could be in danger.
Of course, he'd have to find out if that was the case.